Where are the new leaders of Goa?

In the tumultuous landscape of governance, opposition, peoples opposition and activism, we miss the wood for the tress. The big elephant which is not in the room, that Goa should realise it misses, is leadership which will take Goa to 2050.

And it’s a good time to discuss this on Manohar Parrikar’s birthday. This year, he literally came back from nowhere having slumped to 13 seats and was almost ready to board the defence aircraft and return to Delhi to continue life as a Defence Minister when his party bosses decided to defy the mandate and turn it round to wrest power through a political masterstroke.

 While the manner of this brand of politics was criticised, what was asked whether the Congress had a consensus leader who would be able to deliver the mandate of the people. At the same time, doesn’t the manner of government formation it also indicate that the BJP is also devoid of powerful leadership which will allow Manohar Parrikar  to take a back seat and play the role of a guide rather than that of a General.

The Congress on the other hand, has a problem with a unique twist. It has too many who think they are Generals and will not settle for anything less. But does it have leadership? None that appears obvious on the horizon.

Let’s take the MGP now.  Sudin Dhavlikar can have the ultimate desire to be Chief Minister after being in politics, according to him for 26 years. But is he a pan-Goan mass leader in the genre of Bhausaheb Bandodkar? Well he should move out of Madcaim and win a seat elsewhere first, to even take the question seriously.

And then let’s take leaders who win their constituencies with mammoth margins or win against any odds and with any combination political forces against them in the elections. The Ranes of Sattari are on top of the list though it is likely that after Valpoi, Poriem may fall to BJP hands. Francis D'Souza has been winning Mapusa with ease and with proud margins but he may have played his last political innings there. Way down south, Babu Kavlekar has also been winning the Quepem seat with elan. But each of these leaders are powerful local satraps who hold sway over their constituencies. But none of them are pan-Goa leaders. Let us ask ourselves, if Pratapsingh Rane, or Babu Kavlekar can pick any other constituency, even within their own district and win with ease.

If you look at the 2017 elections, the Congress gained ground and won 17 seats. And yet this wasn’t due to one strong leadership but a culmination of factors which included deep set anti-incumbency in the seats of BJP heavyweights. And yet the Congress could not display and execute government formation because it did not have a towering leader who could attract potential coalition partners. On the other hand the BJP-led government with 13, was formed solely around the personality of Manohar Parrikar with the Goa Forward, the MGP and the Independents staring in their letters of support that their participation in the government as a part of the coalition was subject to Mr Parrikar becoming the Chief Minister.

Make no mistake, the challenge of pan-Goan leadership is something that the BJP is grappling with too. Their veteran leadership across Pernem and Bardez has been electorally wiped off with Messers Parsekar to Arlekar to Mandrekar to Parulekar to Khandolkar routed in the hustings. And in any case, this isn’t quite the profile of leadership which the BJP expects to lead the party at a time when both Goa and India are changing rapidly, altering all the goalposts of people engagement. But where is the new leader in waiting? At this juncture Mr Parrikar is working with the some of the younger lot, including those across parties, to try and build a second line of younger MLAs and others who will bring a fresh contemporary approach to governance.

But alas, the towering leader. the talisman, the crowd puller or the vote catching messiah is bereft from the Goan landscape. It is also a sign of the times, sadly, there is no emergence of  a youth leader- man or woman- or a non- political leader, ready to take the plunge to change the course of Goa, and its politics. Among the scores of serious activists who have indeed worked hard to fructify the ‘voice' with facts ion significant issues, there has been no one willing to lead the people and offer a political alternative, though it must be said that the AAP, in its choice of candidates in 2017, had made an attempt in that direction.

Therefore while political parties do not have a towering mass leader,  there has been no emergence of a non-political people’s leader, who can spearhead a new political movement either.

This is a far bigger loss and one of serious proportions for Goa than winning seats and forming governments.